4/9/26
This spring is starting out in the hole. I would love to be able to use the garden tractor to get the garden tilled, but it has a hydraulic oil leak, and my husband hasn’t been able to go get what we need to fix it yet. Second choice, the work horse tiller, which I would love to get started, but when my husband was trying to get it going for the season, the pull rope snapped. Sigh, foiled again.
So today, I decided to roll out the manual push plow, if anyone even knows what that is. We got it at an auction probably over 15 years ago. It’s all metal framework, so no rotted spots, metal hoop wheel still rolls true. But the ground is too hard for it to dig in more than a quarter inch and after a few passes back and forth across the garden, I decided it wasn’t happening today. I really wanted to get the sprouting potato quarters in the ground before the rain (if it actually happens this time) to get a jump start on the in-ground garden planting. Foiled again. Green beans will wait for another day too.
The seeds will have to wait for another opportunity to be planted. Who knew it would be this warm this early in the spring. Most people recommend waiting till after Mother’s Day, but I can be a rebel sometimes. My husband would probably say “we haven’t even had blackberry winter yet” as our country ancestors have said in the past, but once again, I’m impatient and want to be able to take advantage of the temperature and not being in too much discomfort today.
I planted a few tiers of the raised stair stepped bed a few weeks ago, so there are young beets, turnips, and carrots a few inches tall, and some tomato seeds planted on the top tier waiting to become visible. I just love spring. So, I used the lopper my neighbor sharpened for me this week to murder a few vining weeds that are trying to take over my flower trellis and the scattered black walnut trees the squirrels have kindly planted in various areas of the flower bed.
Yesterday my cousin came and picked me up for an excursion to New Harmony IN, to visit the Working Men’s Institute (founded in 1838) in the Public Library. It was a fantastic day for a road trip, and I enjoyed the views leading up to the destination with all the new greens popping out everywhere.
The Institute was a very cool mix of paintings, museum quality artifacts, mixed with natural history exhibits of fossils, skeletons of fish, a famous horse’s skeleton, and an array of mineral specimens. Definitely a nice place to visit and take in some history and pick up a cheap book the library was finished with. I recommend a visit if your in the area.
A really good day with visits to a few cousins, horse pets (live, not the skeleton), and puppy cuddles. Just what the Doctor ordered, and it just took a bit of courage to get in a car as a passenger. So, get out there and experience local sites on a dime, it’s worth it.
two headed calf
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